Sapphire

"Teacher, I'm Figo."

"Yes, yes, sorry." Leading Figo and Miya to sit on the living room sofa, Vice Admiral Doug turned back, pulled Kong over, and introduced him: "This is your big brother Figo, also a Marine your grandfather taught. He's amazing—this year he's only... 28, right? Aokiji told me he'll soon be promoted to Vice Admiral."

"Hello, Big Brother Figo." Little Kong was very polite, stiff and proper.

"Hello, Little Kong." Figo replied just as formally, then said: "Shouldn't it be Uncle, though?"

"You and Xiaoya aren't married yet, so Big Brother and Big Sister are fine." Vice Admiral Doug shook his head, gestured for Kong to go play in his room, and asked with concern about Figo's eight years in Impel Down.

Actually, he already knew most of it. Ever since the news of Figo capturing the fishman who invaded Impel Down seven years ago reached headquarters, Doug had indeed, as Miya said, paid some attention to Figo, his former obscure student. But he never expected Figo to grow so fast.

"Locking up and interrogating prisoners every day—what a dull and grueling eight years." Doug sighed, then asked again: "And how did you and Xiaoya end up together and come to me?"

Miya, who had been quietly listening, finally spoke, recounting their meeting at sea and the suicide of Jellal, captain of the Laughing Pirates.

"So he was captured after all, a man with Conqueror's Haki potential?" Doug said. "Choosing to die rather than drag his crew down—that counts as a tough guy. If the Laughing Pirates had kept roaming the New World, the Marines wouldn't normally have launched a full-scale campaign. Why... did they go to Sabaody to provoke those Celestial Dragons?"

Was it really because they provoked the Celestial Dragons that an Admiral was sent? Figo had caught a bit of that when he first entered, but his attention had been on Little Kong. Now hearing it again, he showed some curiosity.

That Laughing Pirates captain's Crime Index was only 25. Though he'd committed many evils, that number didn't match his 640 million Berry bounty at all. Compared to the villains on Impel Down's fifth and sixth floors, he was practically a good person.

So even if he was an SSR1, capturing him wouldn't yield as much profit as catching the Nun, let alone the mere 35% Capture Participation—thinking this, Figo casually selected his reward.

[Reward: Swordsmanship +350 → 9886 (Level 3 Iron-Cutting Swordsman)]

As expected, just that little.

Having seen rewards of two to three thousand, Figo now found a few hundred too meager.

On the other side, Miya heard Doug's question and sighed softly. "On the way escorting him back, he told me his story. I don't know if it's true. If it is... I don't know what to do anymore."

As Miya spoke, Figo instinctively felt that Jellal's Character Event 1 was likely the same thing. Character Events were usually a person's deepest desire or some obsession.

So he listened while activating the event.

Doug heard a story; he watched a cartoon.

A black-haired boy, eight or nine years old, wandering the streets, found an abandoned baby girl in a corner alley.

The baby was unique, with pure, gem-like blue eyes that shimmered in the sunlight. She reached out to him and smiled.

The wandering boy hesitated, turned back several times, but finally picked her up.

Thus the story began.

Figo almost didn't want to watch: 'Another little girl, another tragedy, huh...'

In the world of pirates, tragedies always happened.

In the end, he didn't cut the feed, because Miya was indeed telling the same story.

The next scene's theme was survival.

The wandering boy carried water for rich families to earn pocket money—one bucket full of water, the other holding the baby girl he'd found.

The wandering boy collected scrap metal and junk, weaving an iron pot into a little cart to drag the girl along.

When the wandering boy set up a street stall to sell his "treasure finds," the girl, now a bit older, sat beside him, giggling and charming customers.

Before, he only had to support himself; now, he had to support two. The wandering boy worked harder than ever, but he became happier. Every time he saw the girl's pure blue eyes and innocent smile, he smiled from the heart.

Days passed, the boy grew into a youth, the baby into a little girl.

When the girl turned five, their lives suddenly improved. In the scene, passing several trash heaps, the girl suddenly pointed at one. The youth searched and always found something valuable—without exception!

Innate, powerful Observation Haki!

Thanks to the girl's ability, their days got better and better. They got new clothes, even bought a small house.

The turning point came when the girl was seven. A well-dressed couple found them, tearfully claiming the girl was their lost child.

"We ran into pirates back then, panicked, and set her down in a corner..."

"When we came back, she was gone..."

"Thank you, thank you, young man. If you're willing, we'll be your parents too from now on. We'll be a family!"

Their words were earnest, their emotions genuine.

The youth looked at the timid girl, remembered that pirates had indeed rampaged on the island, recalled the girl asking why she had no parents, and, though wary, agreed.

The four formed a new family, and life grew happier and more fulfilling. One month, two months—the couple treated not just the girl but also the youth exceptionally well, as if he were their own.

The youth gradually let down his guard.

Until one day, he came home to find the house empty!

What followed was a frantic search, an endless search. One year, two years, three years. The youth got his first sword, killed his first pirate, and with his great talent, grew stronger and stronger.

Until he was 23, the youth—now closely resembling the captured Jellal—finally found the couple who had once taken them in!

As expected, they were human traffickers.

They'd long had their eyes on the girl with special abilities. The wandering child was too wary, so they spent three whole months playing the part, finally succeeding in kidnapping the girl!

The two trembled under Jellal's blade and confessed everything.

"Where is Sapphire?! I'm asking you where Sapphire is now! Who did you sell her to?!"

The male slave trader stammered, "We... we specifically brought her to the Sabaody Archipelago, thinking we could get a good price. But then, then those damned Celestial Dragons made an offer, and no one dared to compete, really... we didn't even get many Berry for her."

"I didn't ask how much you sold her for! A Celestial Dragon?" Jellal's teeth clenched, teetering on the edge of a rampage. "Damn it! Sapphire became a slave? Which Celestial Dragon, and when?!"

But no matter how he pressed, the pair of slave traders resolutely refused to speak, until Jellal took his blade and found the host of that auction.

"A, a little girl with blue eyes?"

"I, I remember. It was Saint Cassilia, Saint Cassilia who bought her! It's not my fault, not my fault!"

"Saint Cassilia..." Jellal took a deep breath, feeling he'd taken a step closer to finding Sapphire, when he suddenly noticed the host's evasive eyes. It struck him that if it were only that, those despicable slave traders wouldn't have needed to hide it from him.

A wave of immense dread enveloped him. Jellal trembled as he asked, "And then?"

"Then... then... Saint Cassilia thought her eyes were pretty, so he had the slave, had the slave gouge them out...

Once gouged out, the eyes no longer looked like sapphires. Saint Cassilia was very, very angry, so he, he had the slave shove them back in... That girl... No! It's not my fault!"

A flash of blood light flickered, then silence.

Jellal hung his head low.

"Heh, heheheheheh..."

"Saint Cassilia!"

Conqueror's Haki, awakened!

Boom! A massive fist slammed down, and the guest table at Vice Admiral Doug's house shattered into pieces!

The burly old man stood up, his gentleness gone, his whole body trembling. After a moment of silence, he walked into the bedroom without a word.

"Every time he hears of justice being defiled, Teacher gets very angry." Miya's expression was also sorrowful. "Figo, you can understand, right? This isn't sympathy for pirates, it's just..."

She paused, staring into Figo's eyes.

"I spent eight years in Impel Down and saw all kinds of pirates, many of whom had their own hardships." Figo was silent for a moment, then shook his head. "Maybe because I haven't experienced it myself, for now I still think hardships can't wash away sins."

He looked at Miya and said, "But of course, sympathy is allowed, and anger is allowed. I'll be a bit gentler toward unfortunate pirates with hardships too. After all, being human, some things you can ignore if you don't know, but once you see or hear them, it's hard not to feel sympathy."

The image of that little girl with blue crystal eyes, like an angel, still lingered before his eyes.

[Event Requirement: Have Jellal kill, or help Jellal kill—preferably torture to death—the Celestial Dragon Saint Cassilia.]

"Hard not to feel anger."

Two chapters, 5000+ words, continuing to beg for votes. Figo's character card is already online, everyone please give it a like. Also, I'm asking for a Figo avatar—black hair, tall, rugged-looking. If you have a good picture, please join the group and send it to this lousy author, freeloading one.